"The Gabriels are the tenderly wrought creations of the playwright Richard Nelson...As we listen to its members talk, even on trivial subjects like the decoration of cookies, we feel the far-reaching tremors of a scared country that has come down with a rattling case of identity crisis...Before you know it, this modest play has indirectly addressed matters both of the utmost immediate relevance—the election, the economy, the medical industry—and of cosmic implications."
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"Certain notes of hubris in the project, like much self-referential preening about art, were already jarring on election night. Imagine them now. Some people find reassurance in the cast’s palpable warmth; some find Nelson’s Chekhovian languor a balm. But I’m troubled at how 'The Gabriels' assumes a sameness; it’s nearly two hours of self-perpetuating agreement...It’s relentlessly plaintive and, we now know, utterly beside the point."
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"Even if it weren’t so despairing about some of the largest issues we face today, the astonishingly full and fine-grained performances of the six-person cast, under Nelson’s direction, are almost too much to handle...Despite that drollness, and the frequent laughs, the tone of 'Women of a Certain Age' is not only grimmer but angrier...Already, watching the play, I felt that the anarchic spirit of Trumpism had somewhat overwhelmed Nelson’s playwriting levees."
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"These exquisitely intimate plays and these engaged audiences long ago began to feel like family, and 'Women of a Certain Age,' which left me in tears at the end, comforted me later on...As with Nelson’s model Chekhov, the big picture is in the details. It’s the accumulation of them in these mostly quiet moments that make 'Women of a Certain Age' so rich an exploration of identity...Nelson again is the masterful conductor of these amazing actors."
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"The final chapter in writer and director Richard Nelson’s trilogy leaves the titular family where we met them — in angst-riddled limbo...Everyone in the family, played by the finest ensemble in town, hopes for something brighter. Knowing the results of the race for the White House deepens the play’s dark streaks."
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"The playwright’s own intensely personal direction, at Off Broadway’s Public Theater, is brilliantly sustained by a tight ensemble of actors who have been with the project since the beginning...Mary Gabriel, Thomas’s third wife and now widow, quietly rules this roost, as does the sublime actress Maryann Plunkett, who steps back into the role she now owns...Cast in Nelson’s ultra-naturalistic style, the voices are measured, thoughtful, comfortable — and comforting."
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"It's an interlude swollen near to bursting with sorrow and comfort, with losses absorbed and yet-to-come, with crushing disappointments but also with stubborn strains of humor and humanity...Although the Gabriel plays are inextricably political, they are also profoundly human and personal. Not one character on the stage feels inessential to the drama and not a single actor fails to bring a lifetime of intimate knowledge to his or her fully inhabited portrayal."
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"A play that deals with election results cannot help but resonate differently with audiences before votes are tallied and after...The blending of the play's world so intimately with our own makes for vitally naturalistic theater. Naturalism has always been the specialty of Nelson's play cycles, which he directs with great subtlety...It's a shame to say goodbye to characters who so expertly capture our anxieties, as well as to the magnificent actors who take on these roles with full devotion."
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